Hunntington Council Withdraws Procedure Change that Violated City Charter IMAGES

Members of Huntington City Council voted unanimously to withdraw a proposed procedure change that allegedly violated the City Charter and had discriminatory implications.

Council held a work session 45 minutes prior to its meeting at which neither sponsor Gary Bunn or dissenter Rebecca Thaker spoke about the ordinance. No other council members did either.

When the matter came to a vote at the meeting, Bunn surprised the audience by entering a motion to withdraw the procedure change for adding matters to the council agenda.

A copy of the withdrawn proposal is available via PDF download.

Councilwoman Rebecca Thacker, who had argued that proposal which would require submission of all agenda items to the chairman for discretionary committee assignment , enthusiastically joined her fellow council members in withdrawing the matter.

After the meeting, she told HNN that "the public won."

At the April 25 first reading of the ordinance, various council members had chastised Thacker for bringing the constituent requested change in the 48 hour parking/towing rule to council where after referral to the public safety committee, it failed 9-2.

The ordinance proposal would have required that all ordinances and resolutions be submitted by council members to the chairman who had the power to allow it on the agenda or refer it to a committee before agenda placement. That proposal for "efficiency" would have reflected the state legislative process, some members said.

However, the proposal made an exception for items originating in the mayor's office.

The city charter allows any council member in writing to add an item to the agenda and requires that a council member placed forward items supported by the administration.

Current rules require ordinances and resolutions to be "reviewed" by the Chairperson. which then "may" be placed on the agenda for first reading.

The proposal would have deleted the current provision that:

"Any item which has been requested in writing by any Council member shall be placed on the Agenda with or without the consent of the Chairperson or any Council Member."

Thacker complained that the new version would place too much agenda control in the hands of the chairperson:

"The chairperson shall have the authority whether a matter submitted by a council member shall be placed on the agenda. If the chairperson determines that a submitted matter shall not be placed on the agenda, he or she shall immediately refer the item to the appropriate committee for review... Notwithstanding any matter submitted out of the Mayor's office shall be placed on the agenda with or without the consent of the chairperson."

Bunn after the meeting told the Herald Dispatch and HNN, that during research with the city attorney he learned "the present rules of council already allows the chairman to sort of marshal what happens with the council agenda."

"We didn't need to pass the ordinance because the chairman already has that authority," Bunn said.

During the meeting Mayor Steve Williams passed around the trophy won at the America's Best Cities competition. Huntington has reached the finals of the competition and has until March 2017 to implement their improvement plan.

Williams indicated that during the semi-finals the competitors had been asked to choose one word to describe themselves. The Huntington team chose "resilient."

Ironically, he explained "that was the same word used by many other cities."

In other business, council approved an amendment to its Honeywell contract which adds a $3,125 per month interest free payment for a new boiler installed at City Hall.

Council also approved a lawsuit settlement which requires that the city do ordinary street maintenance to streets in the Pleasant Valley subdivision. A dispute had ensured since the 1996 annexation on whether the City of Huntington had street maintenance responsibilities for that area.

The legislative body approved building demolition and an application by the Mayor to apply for a highway safety grant of at least $918,000.